De-stepping mast on O'day 272LE

[dennis young]

I'll be taking off the stick in a few days, using the crane at our spar jetty. I've had some encouraging advice off this site but remain concerned about what the manual calls the "jaw" on the mast foot and the "pin" on the mast step. There are no instructions about de-stepping in the manual -- so working backwards from the stepping instructions, it seems that once I have the crane hook secured above the CG (on the front of the mast)my only option is to move the boat itself forward about 15 feet to get the mast low enough to disengage the "jaw" from the "pin". Can anyone comment on this?

 

[Justin - O'day Owners' Web]

Swing the mast aft

Dennis -I haven't done a 272's mast, but I have done a couple of other boat that have similar arrangments. You should be able to hook up the crane, then let the mast move aft and down. This should happen _very_ slowly. The mast will rotate on the pin until you can remove the foot from the tabernackle.Justin - O'day Owners' Web

 

[Tom Ehmke]

A little more to add to Justin's comments

In the past I unstepped my 272 mast the same way that Justin describes. Just make sure that the mast is lowered enough to disengage the alumninum ears from the pin before sliding the mast aft. On my boat, once the mast was free of the pin, it would swing forward on the lines attached to the crane and I would carry the foot of the mast onto cushions which I had placed on the pulpit. At the rear I would do the same thing with the cushions. Then at my leisure, I would remove and messenger all the lines in the mast and remove the standing rigging. All of this stuff went home for winter storage.I still do most of the above, but I changed the mast step two seasons ago to a Dwyer tabernacle system which uncomplicates stepping and unstepping the mast. No more fragile aluminum ears to worry about and I am now able to step and unstep with one assistant while the boat is in the water.happy haulout!!Tom